Happy autumn and welcome back to the start of another season at the East Bronx History Forum. Many Bronx old-timers and some young people have heard the story of Joe Two Trees, a Native American man who, the story goes, lived in the wilderness of Pelham Bay Park from the 1860s until 1924. In 1924, just before he died, Joe Two Trees told his life story to a young Boy Scout he met on Hunter Island.
That Boy Scout – Theodore Kazimiroff – grew up to be a beloved dentist, environmentalist and active amateur archaeologist. He co-founded the Bronx County Historical Society in 1955 and was the first Bronx County Historian. Kazimiroff told the story of Joe Two Trees to his son, who published it as a non-fiction book – The Last Algonquin – in 1982. The book spawned a walking tour, a documentary, a plan for a Hollywood movie and countless retellings of the story of Joe Two Trees. The thing is, this story could not be literally true, as this talk will show.
How did this myth become part of Bronx history? In this illustrated lecture, Dr. Amy Starecheski, cultural anthropologist and historian, will tell the narrative of this story and share some of the actual history that gives this myth its power: from Boy Scouts dressing up as Native Americans, to European immigrants making summer encampments in the woods, from local historians telling stories about the “last” Native Americans in their area and to amateur archaeologists digging up graves. The story of the Last Algonquin – where the story and its power come from and how it has circulated over the past decades – becomes a window into how people decide what is true and important about the past.
Dr. Starecheski directs the Oral History Master of Arts Program at Columbia University and is currently serving as the Anthropologist in Residence for the Bronx County Historical Society. This month’s meeting is the start of our 20th season. The entrance to this free event is in Msgr. Joseph Raimondo Hall in the lower level of St. Clare of Assisi Church, located at 1027 Rhinelander Ave. The meeting is on Wednesday, Sept. 24 and will start at 7:30 pm. There is ample free parking just north of the main entrance on Paulding Avenue. Additionally, remember to follow us at BronxNYC.com and on our Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo and YouTube account pages for the most current updates or information. We look forward to seeing you.
